Darker Shade of Black
by OryonStorm
Summary: Kirito makes one small change to his first day in Aincrad, makes a friend, and kills another player all before the Tutorial. The flap of a butterfly's wings creates a storm far across the world. Follow the butterfly effect as the Black Swordsman becomes a darker shade of black.
1. Aincrad

Summary: The butterfly effect changes Kirito's time in Aincrad. With a stronger connection to another player and a PK under his belt all before the Tutorial. The beater as a boogieman, our favorite Black Swordsman is a Darker Shade of Black.

This writing is a derived work of Sword Art Online, Conceived and written by Kawahara Reki, Illustrated by Abec, published by ASCII Media Works, and adapted to the Anime format by A-1 Pictures. Please support the official release.

AN: The premise of this story was inspired by "Orange" written by LeviTamm. Keep in mind that the SAO game as described in the novels, anime, manga, and games is mechanically inconsistent. I will be mixing the different variations and filling in gaps with game design from other MMORPGs. So, what I write will be different, but major aspects of Canon will be preserved where possible. I am not a fan of long-winded author notes cluttering up stories I read, so I will try to explain things in exposition and may respond to reviews by explaining it in story if I can make it fit.

A Darker Shade of Black

By OryonStorm

My name is Kazuto Kirigaya or as I will come to be known to friends and enemies alike, Kirito. Today is the day I have long awaited, November 6th of the year 2022. I have spent every waking moment thinking about my return, since the beta test of Sword Art Online ended in October. I was one of the lucky few, 1,000 players given the opportunity to test the first **V** irtual **R** eality **M** assively **M** ultiplayer **O** nline **R** ole **P** laying **G** ame released for the Nervegear by ARGUS. The hardware and software both developed by the brilliant mind of a scientist I have followed and admired for many few years, Kayaba Akihiko.

As I wait for the servers to go live in a few minutes, I try to distract myself with a popular gaming news stream, and the latest issue of a tech magazine covering the game. I half hear a teenage or young woman's voice echoing from the speakers of my computer on the desk in front of me.

"You just saw the promo for the this year's hottest new game Sword Art Online, known to fans as SAO. Today on MMO Stream we have been covering the retail launch, speculation, and everything we know about SAO before its servers go live in just a few minutes at 1:00 pm. That trailer was the newest and most in depth, released only just this morning ahead of the full retail release. Many stood in long lines overnight to snag one of the ten thousand copies. When you are a hardcore gamer, that is just the sort of thing you to have to do."

On the screen there are video clips showing coverage of the various launch events where players who were not part of the beta test lucked out at getting a copy. In one such clip a bunch of young to middle aged salary workers pose with their copies of the game. I tune out as they are going on about the specifics of the game. Eventually I close the browser, and turn off my monitors. They are just repeating information I already know at this point.

I go to turn a page in the gaming magazine I was half reading as I impatiently waited cutting my finger in the process, releasing a single drop of blood. I reflexively wince and make a hissing noise. An angry red line has formed on a finger with a single drop of blood. Paper cuts are the worst, but I hardly even care as I am focused on my plans to return to that world.

The front door bangs open, and I hear my sister Suguha's voice, "I am heading to practice, see you tonight." I choose not to respond. It had bothered me for awhile, like a dream I couldn't quite remember, the feeling that I had another family before this one. I had attempted to hack government records a few years back, but was unsuccessful, narrowly avoiding getting caught. In the down time after the SAO beta I had finally managed it, through my doctor's office records of all things. Turns out Midori was not my mother but in fact my Aunt. I had barely spoken to them over the last few weeks. I think "mother" knows I have it figured out, but neither of us have been brave enough to confront the other. I should probably talk to someone about it but it is not like I have any close friends in real life to talk to, and even if I had close friends in game it has become taboo to talk about the real world in VR.

The paper cut already forgotten, I sit down on the bed and pick up my Nervegear off of the bed and place it squarely on my head. Connecting the chin strap that keeps it securely in place. It is an amazing piece of technology, replacing the clunky interfaces of keyboard and mouse or controllers. It interfaces directly with the user using dozens of sensors and transmitters to connect directly to the sensory portions of the brain. Capable of sight, hearing, and touch, but the cutting-edge technology is also capable of smell and taste.

The clock and battery indicators blink in the corner. 12:59, only a minute left before I can return to the world I have longed for. Aincrad, a wonderful world with its own set of rules apart from our own. The brain child of Kayaba, a hundred floor castle flying in the sky, with the largest floors being over 30 kilometers in diameter. Even the smallest of the top floors are said to be over 10 kilometers wide. Kayaba once said Aincrad stands for "An Incarnating Radius" representing time and space in an elegant game world. I still do not fully know what he meant by that. I have followed every leak, every interview with Kayaba, and every forum post speculation, but still much of the game is shrouded in mystery.

I completely abandon my train of thought as the clock blinks 13:00. It is finally time to return to a world more real to me than the one I live in everyday. "Link Start!" The field of white changes from the limited display of the Nervegear's visor to a white void as if I am without form, floating, and waiting to be born into a new world. Multicolored circles with English text blink across my vision as the system interrupts my senses and links them to the Nervegear.

Touch, OK.

Sight, OK.

Hearing, OK.

Taste, OK.

Smell, OK.

The prompt to choose my language pops up already set to Japanese, I visualize pressing okay. My login information pops up next, already filled out from my last login to the beta test. I quickly import my beta avatar and the field of white fills with blue streaks and gradually fades to a view of "The Town of Beginnings" the first city of Aincrad. I open my eyes my heart beating in game echoed by my actual heart rate. I am greeted by the sight of the plaza at the center of the town.

"Hello World! I'm Back!" I mumble enthusiastically to myself, I wanted to shout but other players are already zoning in and I don't want to draw their attention.

Clad in my dark blue and black starter gear I start running from the plaza towards the western gate. As I run, I hear the various conversations of the few players who logged in before me and already started introducing themselves to one another or meeting up with friends from real life or other games. I ignore them, focused on my destination so I can begin leveling and get stronger and further, faster than I ever did in the beta.

I take a short cut down an alley I discovered in the beta, it shaves minutes off getting to the western gate. As I am jogging, I hear a shout and rapid steps behind me in the alley. "Oy Bro, Wait Up!" I turn around and see a man with long red hair tied in a bandanna glad in the same beginner gear as me, but in red and brown.

In the beta, there were three major color schemes of cursors, green, orange, and red. Green was the default color for all players, but when they committed crimes it would change to orange. Most crimes would see your cursor fade back to green within a few hours, or days at most. Killing other players on the other hand, would see you stuck with an orange cursor for a week or more, each kill resetting the timer. Rumor had it in the alpha the orange cursors were permanent for PKs, but that could not be viable for a long running MMORPG without multiple character slots, so it was changed for the Beta. Also, in the beta there were several quests to reset the cursor immediately for Col or completing different quest objectives as penance.

A green cursor glows softly above his head, it's not as if anyone has been in the game long enough to gain an orange cursor, but instincts from the beta stand as I check that before I respond, "Who me?"

He bends over huffing for air, a newbie mistake as even at level one our stats make us stronger than any athlete just below Olympic level. It is a common carry over from a player's expectations that a VR world behaves like the real one. It won't be the last time this player makes that mistake today, and he won't be the only one. It took time for all the beta players to realize stuff like that.

"You move without any hesitation, you were in the Beta weren't yah?" Before I can do more than grunt, "Y…yeah," he catches his breath and continues. "Today is my first day you see. Can you give me some tips for my first few levels?" I barely say, "uh" before he clasps his hands together as if praying at a Shinto shrine.

"Come on I am begging you. My name is Klein, nice to meetcha" I debate for a moment, being in a party would slow down my progression, but at level one I could use additional help to tackle a few things I would normally have to wait to level up for. Not only that, and it is not as if I would admit to anyone else, but the last few weeks I have been feeling a bit lonely. "I am Kirito, nice to meet you."

I send him a party invite, he quickly accepted it and began to shout and cheer, "Yatta!" After he calmed downed, I led the rest of the way to the western gate. I know a spot a few minutes from town, with an amazing view and a pretty good spawn rate for level one "Frenzied Boars" and the occasional "Wild Boar." It would be a good place to show him the ropes, especially Sword Skills.

As we walk, he is rambling about Samurai, and hoping their will be katanas later in the game, I just nod and grunt at the appropriate times. I am not good with people, and even during the beta I rarely grouped up with anyone, so small talk is not one of my strong suits. As we left the Town of Beginnings behind us, in the distance you could see a few of the smaller villages on their own small circles of floating land, some with water cascading down into the rivers and lakes below. To the northeast you could see the tower containing the floor boss and the path to the next floor. The sun was no where to be seen the ceiling above hiding it from view. The floor is lit without any shadow though, the ceiling of the floor above acts as an illusion of a sky, day and night.

His equipped sword is a scimitar or cutlass I am not really sure, but as beginner equipment it still counts as a one-handed sword. Several basic weapon types were available at character creation, but far more were locked behind skill walls. A player would have to level up one-handed swords to at least 100/1000 before the actual one-handed curved blade would be unlocked. It is not as if the skill levels are hard capped by levels. A player could max out a skill without ever leveling up, but weapon skills were different. You had to strike enemies with a weapon to level the skill. So most players would be around level 10 before they reached 100 skill points.

His armor was the same as mine or any other starting player, just simple cloth and leather armor. There are only two classifications of armor in SAO, light armor and heavy armor. SAO like many RPGs has multiple equipment slots for clothes, armor, and accessories. Players start with only simple cloth pants, leather boots, and an armored leather tunic, with many of your slots left empty until you find or buy gear to fill them. Items like Klein's bandanna are purely cosmetic and free at character creation, or sold cheaply at NPC shops.

"Okay, Klein we are both level one and have the same equipment and available skills. Since you selected a sword at character creation you should already have the "One Handed Swords" skill equipped."

"Yep its right there, 1 point out of a 1000. Wow, I bet it takes forever to level it all the way."

He makes gestures in the air and I can almost imagine the UI, identical to my own floating in front of him. In this world you can only see someone else's interface if they explicitly share it with you.

I sigh thinking that I am going to be talking more today than in the entire last few weeks. I respond, "You would be surprised how quickly some of the early skills can be leveled up. Most of them are prerequisites for later skills at 100, 500, or even fully mastered."

He nods repeatedly, I can only assume he is taking this all in. At least he seems like he has experience from traditional MMOs. I continue, "For now you can equip whatever skill you want in the second slot, you can change it out anytime when more skills become available. It does wipe all progress, so you should plan before swapping a skill out." Looking at my own skill list I select light armor, most of the skills available right now are trade skills, or just aren't as important to low level combat. "I would suggest light armor, even at its lowest level it increases your armor's effectiveness and reduces durability loss by at least 5%."

As we walk towards the field, I fill Klein in on many of the other mechanics of the game. His head sort of reminding me of a bobble head as he nods and occasionally grunts short replies to the information.

We arrive at the field I had in mind, boars meander about with a fairly good amount of space between them. As is common in MMOs these boars do not attack on sight as the low-level mobs are intended to give players a bit more control before having to watch their threat. "You should have the three Sword Skills that all players get at level one with one-handed swords, Vertical, Horizontal, and Rage Spike." He looks at me bewildered, I know the back of the box at least covered the existence of sword skills.

"Kirito, how do you use Sword Skills, I do not see an action bar like in other games?" Ah, so that is it, I can understand not knowing that much, until you have actually been in combat. "You prime the attack by making the proper starting motion, and then pause for a moment. You can of course attack just by hitting an enemy with your weapon, but the damage is low, sort of like an auto attack in other games."

While I spoke, he went ahead and hit a boar, I chuckle to myself as he did enough damage to bring its Hit Points or HP into the yellow, but failed to initiate a Sword Skill, and got knocked on his ass for his trouble. "Ow ow, right in the balls!" As he moans on the ground I chuckle, "You are so melodramatic, you cannot feel any pain, right?" He stops moving around, and gets back up, "Oh yeah, that's right, sorry, I guess it's a habit…" He trails off, what kind of guy is he if reacting to being hit in the crotch is a habit?

Laughing I exclaim, "I told you, you have to have your initial movement right."

"That's easy for you to say, but he keeps moving around!"

I affix him with a flat stare, "Of course it moves, its not a training dummy or something."

I pick up a rock and take aim, pulling my arm back I make the initial motion for the generic skill "Throw." My arm and the rock start to glow a light red. I feel the hook of the system taking control. "If you do the motion input right, the Sword Skill should activate. The system will take care of the rest and make sure you hit your target." I look to the boar and let go the system guiding my throw and my arm moves on its own the rock shooting out like a bullet to hit the boar in the hind side. It only does 1 point of damage, but it resets threat to me.

"The system knows what your target is generally based on what you are focusing on." He mumbles motion to himself over and over like some sort of self hypnotizing chant. Meanwhile I dodge and block the boar's attacks. "How should I put it, when you make the correct motion pause and a wait for a sort of hook feeling as the system takes control. Then release and drive it home like Bam!"

He continues to mumble but raises his arm into the same motion I used to "Throw" luckily for him its also the initial motion for the third Sword Skill I mentioned 'Rage Spike.' I turn the boar still mid charge with my sword on its snout, give it a shove to disengage and then kick it to face Klein. It's a simple redirect, it only works on mobs like the boar that target based on sight alone, seeing Klein it charges him completely forgetting about me. He releases his arm allowing the system hook to guide the skill. 'Rage Spike' pulls him forward as he charges right through the boar. It is a rather weak attack, but it closes the distance between you and a mob, a simple charge attack. Very similar to both the 'Reaver' curved blade skill, and the 'Linear' rapier skill. With the damage we both already dealt it's enough to finish off the boar's HP. It disappears in a sparkle of blue and green voxels and the success window pops up in front of us both with our share of the Col and EXP and an empty item's field.

"Congrats. However, you should know that boar is about as weak as slimes in other games."

"No way dude, I thought that was a elite mob or something!"

"Of course not," I reply. Seeing another boar spawn to replace the one we just killed. As before it doesn't attack. I watch as Klein plays around activating, "Vertical" and "Horizontal". In SAO sword skills are treated much like spells and abilities in other games. Each has its own cool down, but there is also a short global cool down developers called "Post Motion Delay" before you can use any sword skill. Attacking without a target does not complete the sword skill, therefore neither delay is applied.

I smirk, "Addictive isn't it?"

Continuing to swing his curved sword around as he talks. He must have chosen one of the curved swords at the beginner screen, which isn't to say it's a "Curved Sword" all of the basic starter weapons belong to one of the basic one-handed weapon classes, Axes, Spears, Swords, Maces, and so on. He will have to level up his one-handed sword skill and earn some Col if he wants to get an actual curved sword. I muse as I realize he is still speaking.

"So, these Sword Skills there is a ton of them isn't there? Like forging and stuff?"

"Yeah, as far as I could tell there is almost an infinite combination of them with over a thousand skills in the Beta alone. On the other hand, there is no magic, outside of the item effects, and a few color-coded crystals that are rare right now, but sold on higher floors."

"No magic, that is a pretty bold decision for an RPG."

I smirk and chuckle, "It's pretty awesome to fight with your body, not behind some keyboard and mouse right?" He shouts, "true that!" after executing yet another Sword Skill. Checking the time, and the woefully low amount of experience we have gained. "Yo, Klein, I have proposition for you, there is a quest not far from here, in fact the nearest village. It has a good experience reward and will net you a much better sword until you decide to use some other weapon type, or you could just sell it" None of the gear in SAO is bound like in the MMOs of decades past. Its more like the real world in that regard, you can sell used gear, or have some of your gear stolen after a PK, depending on Random Number Generation or RNG.

Klein looks excited at the prospect of either the quest or a better sword. "Yosh, what kind of quest is it, do we have to save a princess, slay a dragon, take on a field boss?" I smirk, time to be a bit of a troll, "Nope we are going to go weeding, find a special healing item, and help a mother cure her daughter's cold" Yep that did it he looks a bit let down now. Oh, how much fun it is to tease people if you do have to deal with them.

He sighs, "Oh, well it's a beginner quest so I guess it couldn't be anything to exciting. Where do we have to go?"

I reply, "It is located in Horunka Village, it's the closest village to the starting town, it shouldn't take us long to get there. We can kill a few mobs on the way, but they won't start attacking on sight until after the village."

We jog the twenty or so minutes it takes to get there. In the real world we would probably be winded and have a harder time talking, but in SAO the player is only winded if their Stamina Points are low. As we are neither sprinting, or using skills it is fairly easy to talk while we move. I explained to him some of the other mechanics of the game, such as stats and switching.

Being a VRMMO, SAO doesn't have the same reliance on most stats that other RPGs have. Really the only ones that have any bearing are strength and agility. All players have roughly the same health and stamina that increases as they level, and the rest of the stereotypical stats simply have no point. What is intelligence, or defense in a game where its purely based on a player's own intelligence, or skill to dodge or block an attack. Each level a player gets three points to assign into either strength or agility, and most of the customization after that comes from gear.

Switching is another matter all together, its not even a true mechanic in SAO, just a meta-skill that players discovered was necessary early in the Beta. At its core, it was basically a chance to let your SP recover after using Sword Skills while another player takes the threat of mob. It also serves another purpose. It is just impossible for multiple players to attack a smaller mob at the same time without getting in the way of one another. VR with realistic collision just creates new needs that never occurred in on-screen games.

After a short while we arrived to Horunka Village and made out way to a farmhouse on the edge of town, the only house with a second story. Home to a mother and her ailing daughter. Klein followed me as we walked up to house and I knocked on the door. An NPC woman answered the door, the title "Horunka Villager" floating above her head. "Hello, who is it?" "Yes, my name is Kirito, I was wondering if you might have any water?" I decided to skip the dialogue ahead to the point where she would let us in, no point going through on the small talk just to confirm if she still offered the quest. "Yes certainly, I can offer you something to drink, but I am afraid I do not have any food to offer"

As Klein and I walk into the house, you can hear the coughing of a child upstairs, and see the simmering pot over the fire. "Ah, but what is that in the pot Miss?" Again, skipping ahead of the useless dialogue since time is a factor. "That is medicine for ailing daughter, but alas I am missing a key ingredient and I wasn't able to buy any at market." I look directly at her, "could we assist?" "That would be wonderful, there is a rare part from the Nepents in the forest. It's a small flower bud called the Nepent's Ovule" The text, quest accepted pops up in front of me, and is added to both Klein's and my own quest log.

I look at Klein, "When you speak with NPCs, they recognize certain keywords, and respond with programmed phrases. Since I am not looking at the NPC, or rather because my intent isn't to speak with her, she isn't registering anything I say without a keyword. Generally, you can just talk to them and they will hint and lead you to keywords to ask for quests, information, purchase opportunities, and the like." He nods, still quiet, I guess trolling him about the quest really got him down. "I didn't lie exactly, but we actually have to fight monsters called Little Nepents." They are about twice as strong as the boars, averaging level 2 or 3. If we are careful the two of us can make good time. Like any RPG players can kill monsters 2 or 3 levels higher than them.

"Yosh, I knew it, a game this awesome wouldn't have such lame quests." Smirking, "Well that is not exactly true, there are plenty of easy fetch quests, escorts and the like, but they do not offer very good rewards or much Col and EXP." I led the way to the forest west of town, that is where the closest spawn is, besides I am not sure if any of the others on the floor even drop the item. I only farmed it once before making a beeline to the dungeon leveling on the way.

Klein and I arrive at the forest clearing swarming with Little Nepents. I can already see at least one with the flower bud that we have to avoid hitting. "Klein, we need to take them one at a time as much as possible. See that one with bloomed flower over there?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

"You must be careful not to break that flower. If its broken a sickly sweet smell will enrage the others causing them all to attack at once, and spawn in even more to attack."

He nods, looking a little sick. Being new to VR, I am not surprised. An element all the beta players had to overcome is how real everything feels. There is a very real fear when you are looking directly at an actual monster in front of you, not pixels on a screen. The idea of being swarmed when you are so new is not a comforting thought.

"Don't worry, nothing here is real, it doesn't hurt and if we do die, we can just respawn in the Black Iron Palace."

The morale of my team mate handled we begin killing the Little Nepents. At first, we take them one a time using the throwing darts all players start with. There is no throwing skill in the game and only one Sword Skill for aiming a throw. SAO was designed without ranged combat, the focus being on melee, but there are a few throwing weapons used primarily for pulling mobs, killing critters, or whatever emergent ideas players may come up with. As we fight, its clear that Klein is becoming more comfortable with the three Sword Skills we started with. Using 'Verticals', 'Horizontals', and 'Rage Spike' to quickly dispatch the Little Nepents with two or three attacks from each of us.

As we are fighting, I start to feel uneasy, as if we are being watched. A few times I could have sworn I saw a shimmering shadow on the edges of the clearing. Now I wish I had gotten 'searching' as my second skill, it could be a player with nefarious plans. The ovule is a rare drop after all, something worth killing another player for. Now Klein and I are fighting the Nepents separately his confidence high enough to handle a mob still a level or two higher than himself with little issue.

Out of the corner of my eye I see a flash and then a throwing dart landed squarely in the flower on the Nepent in the corner we have been avoiding for the last hour. "Klein, get back, someone else is here and they just triggered the Nepent swarm." I shouted to Klein, as all the "Little Nepents" went aggressive and targeted the both of us. Perhaps if the situation was different and I was alone they would have targeted the hidden player. They can see right through low level hiding as they hunt on smell alone. However, with ample targets in front of them there was no reason to seek them further afield.

Slash, stab, swipe, with the shear number of mobs I do not have the time to suffer the delay after Sword Skills. I kick another Nepent towards Klein, by tanking the mods I am giving him time to use his Sword Skills to finish them off. With no time to check the drops we keep fighting furiously downing monster after plant monster to stay alive. No way I was going to let a lazy monster player killer benefit from their nefarious plot. As we fight, minutes feeling like hours, we take them down one by one until only one remains. Thankfully, no more Nepents with the flower bud spawned in the meantime. I am certain our greedy and malicious shadow would have popped another if they got the chance. As I kill the last one I hear Klein shout.

"Kirito, Help!" In front of Kirito there is a player standing, sword drawn. Klein's HP is in the red and his sword is on the ground. The player's cursor is still green, so he hasn't attacked Klein yet. I cannot see his name as we aren't in a party together or on one another's friend list, but I recognize his avatar from the Beta. It's a player named Coper. As another solo player we had partied together on a few of the floor bosses, and he was always hungry for the last attack bonus, but never quite good enough to get it. Always complaining after the boss fight. After one boss battle where I got the final attack bonus we got into a fight and I didn't party with him for the rest of the beta test.

I see red at witnessing my first friend in a long time cornered by Coper, whom I am certain caused the swarm in the first place. Coper having been both jealous and petty I am certain he will kill us both to get our recent loot drop. The PK system guarantees that players will drop recently acquired loot when killed. I forget for a moment that Klein's life is no real danger, charging in with a battle cry. "Coooooper" It all happened so fast, there was virtually no time between Klein's call for help and my assault. Without using a Sword Skill, I leaped at Coper and swung for his wrist. At the last moment he blocked my strike, but I kicked him in the gut knocking him away from Klein and putting myself between them.

I did not notice the cursor above my head turning orange. I parried his return blow drive his sword into the ground to my right, and then followed up with a 'Vertical', aimed at his wrist of his sword hand again. This time my Sword Skill connects, guided by the system for accuracy. The sword left the red grid-lines representing damage and his HP slides into the yellow range. I body check him with my shoulder, like the kick to his stomach it does nearly no damage, but it separates him further from his sword. I swing again and miss as he leaps past be towards his sword.

Turning about quickly on my left foot, my right foot lands in front of me in a stance from childhood kendo lessons. I pause for just a moment to initiate a 'Rage Spike'. Coper was bending down scrambling to pick up his sword again. The point of my sword connects squarely in the back of his avatar's skull, a critical strike driving his HP from yellow to red and then to zero. I can only imagine the startled look on his face as his avatar bursts into blue and teal voxels and a small bag drops to the ground.

"Kirito…" I turn to see Klein's ashen face filled with concern. I take a few deep breaths to calm myself down. It is just a game after all. After a few moments I open my mouth to speak. "Yeah, I didn't get a chance to tell you about player killers. They mostly kill other players for loot, or just for fun." Klein looks at the loot bag on the ground and I continue, "When players are killed, they will drop any recently acquired items, and through RNG a chance to drop other equipment or items from their inventory. He probably wanted to get an ovule either off us or by killing us and fighting the Little Nepents left himself. They become very rare later when more players are trying to farm the quest, and they can even be sold by players who have already done the quest."

Klein finding his voice again, "I see, so its just like in other games, you have the players who want to explore and get achievements or just socialize, and then the people who like to role-play the bad guy. Well I have to say you really showed him. Let's get the loot and see if we have what we need!" I smirk, I am not sure if Klein knows it but he just described Richard Bartle's Taxonomy albeit without the card suits. Killers are not solely represented by player killers, but its definitely a common expression of that player type.

I hit the congratulations prompt the Col and EXP reward for our chain of kills, in my loot summary there is plenty of assorted plant item drops, and I am ecstatic to see there is a single ovule. "I got one ovule, how about you" Klein looks up from his own prompt not that I can see it. "Yeah buddy! I think it dropped somewhere in all that chaos. What about the bag that guy dropped though?"

I walk over and click the prompt on the bag to loot it. This is wrong, instead of just col, or some recent monster drops, it contains his entire inventory. "I am not sure why, but it dropped far more than usual, it looks like his entire inventory. We should get back to the village and turn in the quest before he comes back from respawning to try again. Players like that can be determined or hold a grudge."

Arriving back to the village after a short but silent walk. I was already over it, its not my first PK and not likely to be my last, but Klein looked like he was taking a bit more time to process. It will take a few days for him to shake off cognitive dissonance of VR looking so real but not actually being real life. We turn in the quest each getting our own "Anneal Blade" and I get a level up prompt.

"Hey…Klein. Did you get level two after the turn in?

He turns to look at me, "Heck yeah I did, that was crazy, but I got my first level up in SAO! What were you saying earlier about assigning points?"

I guess I had set my hopes too high earlier about all that information sinking in. It was quite the information dump to tell Klein all of that at once.

"So, like I said, you only get to assign points into Strength or Agility. Both actually contribute to your overall defense and damage but in different ways. Strength lets you hit harder, along with the heavy armor skill wear heavier armor , and block more damage with shields or your sword. Agility on the other hand is all about attacking faster, letting you move fast enough to dodge or parry attacks, and in general just move faster. I would suggest using a bit of each, but that ratio is up to you and your play style."

He nods and brings up his menu. "Okay, I am going to put one into agility and two into strength for now. Does that sound okay"

"Yep, I am going to do the same. There is no respec as far as I know for attributes so chose wisely, you will be stuck with your choices, but its not like you cannot change the ratio later levels."

With our point assignment done, we start the long walk back towards the field where we were fighting boars. The sun is now setting, its almost 5 o'clock. Suguha and "Mother" won't be home to eat dinner for another couple of hours, so I still have time to play. It's the same view as earlier, the floating village islands, the tower in the distance, all faded from a brilliant green to a bright red. The waterfalls and rivers sparkling red in the light of the setting sun. A quartet of dragons flying in the distance far beyond the bounds of Aincrad. Early morning and late afternoon are one of the only times you can see the sun as it moves away from being blocked by the ceiling of the floor above. As the light fades you can see the dim sparkling illusion of stars on the bottom of the ceiling.

As I am admiring the view in front of me Klein walks up beside me and begins to speak.

"No matter how many times I see this I cannot believe we are inside a game!"

I chuckle, its not so new to me anymore. "Its not like our souls have been transported into the world of SAO. As beautiful and detailed as it is, this is all just information being beamed into our brain by the Nervegear."

Klein responds, "Well this all old hat to you Mr. Beta Tester." He trails off making more of a tar sound than the normal pronunciation at the end. "This is my first full dive. This is amazing, what a time to be alive!"

"You are making such a big deal out of this." I look at Klein, he is staring off at the same view I was admiring earlier. You could almost imagine tears of joy in his eyes as he takes in the sights."

Speaking while he continues to stare off in the distance, "So is this you first full dive ever?"

"Yeah."

For a moment he looked serious, every bit the Samurai warrior he extolled the virtues of earlier. You could have for the moment believed that he was that warrior from the Sengoku Jidai, and then the image was broken as he laughed, "Actually, I got my copy of SAO before I even got the hardware to play it. I was super lucky to even get a copy, but man you were ten times luckier getting in to the beta test."

"I guess you could say that…" I trail off back to my train of thought before I logged in. How enthusiastically I followed everything about SAO, how amazing it was that one man, Kayaba Akihiko was involved in every aspect of this project from programming, to hardware design of the Nervegear. My train of thought again derailed as I hear a loud stomach growl sound effect from Klein.

"Oh Man I am so hungry!"

"Too bad food here only satisfies you virtually."

"That is why I planned ahead, I have a pizza delivery for 5:30" He shouts making a victory sign with his fingers. "Anyway, I got to log out to eat, but I will totally be back on as soon as I finish!"

I turn back to him after gazing at the sunset some more. "Thank you for the team, I usually play solo, but it was fun to teach and play with another player for a bit."

"Its me who should be thanking you, with all the tips you gave me and this sweet sword. I will pay you back later, virtually of course." He brandishes his brand new anneal blade. It does make me feel a little less special with my own, but its good enough to last at least three floors so it would have been a shame not to help out my new friend.

"Of course." I reply.

Klein gestures to open his menu and my own blinks up with a friend request. "After I eat, I am going to meet my buddies from my old guild and I am going to share what you taught me with them. You are welcome to join us, or not, but I wanted to add you to my friend list so we can find each other later!"

I swipe my menu to accept it, deep in thought. This is the first person I have added to my friend list since beta. Even then I only had Argo the information broker on my list. I had little time for other players, but Argo was useful and paid good money for new information.

"Sure. Well, I guess this is goodbye for now."

Klein looks up from his friends list, "Peace Dude, Catch you later." He walks off a bit to log out, after a few moments I hear a confused cry, "what? the logout button is gone." I am shocked nothing like that ever happened in the beta. "Are you sure? It should be right here…?" As I open my own menu, I see that the place where the logout button is supposed to be is just a blank box. I select it a few times just in case its only the text that is gone, but nothing happens.

"This isn't good, not good at all"

Klein still confused and not really understanding the gravity of the situation replies, "Dude, its just a glitch, but man I bet the server guys are freaking out right now." He still doesn't get it so the troll in me wants to enlighten him in a certain way. "You will too, its 5:25"

"Oh no! My teriyaki-mayo pizza and ginger ale!" He trails off the ale, as he grabs his head screaming in dismay. This man can be quite over the top sometimes.

"Just contact a GM and get them to log you out"

Klein turns to me his UI suddenly visible, he must have hit share interface. A picture of an elderly wise old man type in the red robes of a GM is there with a call pending icon blinking below it.

"I tried but no one is picking up. Is there some other way to log out"?

I think for a moment, it had never occurred to me that there should be another way. "Nope the only way I know of is to select log out from the menu."

If it wasn't so serious, I would laugh at Klein jumping around like an idiot shouting. "Log out! Escape! Control Alt Delete!" Each phrase is punctuated by a jump into the air and a different arm gesture.

"That's not going to work, there was no alternate log out method listed in the user manual either. It is kind of suspicious now that I think about it. You would think some sort of emergency log out would be built into the hardware at the very least." Its starting to dawn on me, this could be very bad.

"I'll just rip the Nervegear off my head!" I look on in disbelief as Klein proceeds to do just that, pulling on his avatar's head as if that is going to do anything. "That won't work, when the Nervegear is on, your brain's signals are not going to your real body. You cannot take your Nervegear off yourself, only someone else can,"

"But I live alone."

"My little sister or mother will notice when I do not come down for dinner, but that won't be for hours yet."

"Dude you have a sister, is she hot, how old is she, what's she like!"

He grabs my shirt as he over enthusiastically shouts his questions at me. He seems like a nice guy, but dude that is rude get out of my bubble. I can't believe it a time like this he is perving on a minor he has never even met, dude must be at least in his twenties if he is living alone. "She isn't your type, she is into sports, and would never date a gamer, besides isn't a teenager a bit young for you, lolicon." This is bad, and he is making what I hope is a joke.

I knee him in the crotch to get him out of my face. He lands on the ground again grabbing at it, recovering only a bit faster exclaiming, "Oh yeah it doesn't hurt."

"Get serious, this could be very bad, this is the sort of thing that could get VR and VR games banned. In fact, I am surprised that the GMs haven't shutdown the server and forced everyone to log out or at least made an announcement."

As if I am predicting the future, the last word is hardly out of my mouth before a loud bell tolls, coming from the town of beginnings but being heard as if it is right beside us.

"Wha…" Klein starts to say as everything fades to black in a sparkle of blue and teal before coming back into focus as the Plaza, I started the game in. The plaza is filled to the brim with people all in their starter gear of various colors. "t the hell!" Klein not so eloquently finishes as he appears beside me. Players around us shout variations of "can we log out now" and "what is going on." It is clear that some players had tried to log out, but others were oblivious as they hadn't tried to log out yet.

A loud warning buzzer sounds as a hexagon with the English text, "System Announcement" appears red in the sky. More hexagons appear as if forming of a red glass dome over the plaza at the center of the Town of Beginnings. Each one displaying the English words "System Announcement" or "Warning." Red liquid appears as if the sky is bleeding viscous blood, drips at first, then streaming down from the lines between the hexagons. It forms a large clot that slow gives shape to a large red GM robe, but with the face missing instead an empty black void in its place. Somewhere behind me I hear a player's dismayed shout, "Is that a GM? Where is his face!?" I silently agree with them, that is a very unsettling image. My stomach drops, I really have a bad feeling and am starting to have some idea of what is coming next.

A deep voice, one I immediately recognize as Kayaba Akihiko's booms out across the square.

" **Welcome Players, to my World."**

" **My name is Kayaba Akihiko and as of this moment, I am the only human being with control over this world."**

" **By now you have likely noticed that the log out button is missing the main menu. This is not a bug, I repeat this is not a bug, but rather a key feature of Sword Art Online."**

Klein clearly dazed, mumbles, "fe fe…feature?" The pit in my stomach that has been forming since we first discovered the log out button was missing just drops further.

" **From the moment you logged in you have been unable to log out of your own free will."**

Players around me shout in disbelief, Klein beside me is just as dumbfounded as the rest. Just as disbelieving I let slip, "W.. what?" Kayaba, my hero has gone from hero to madman in a blink of an eye. How long has he been planning this? How is he planning to enforce it? Turns out I do not have to wait long to find out.

" **Furthermore, any attempts by the outside to remove the Nervegear or terminate your connection will result in your immediate demise. The powerful microwaves embedded in the Nervegear will scramble your brain and end your autonomic functions."**

Klein looks to me and comments in disbelief, "Bullshit, right Kirito? He cannot really do this can he?" I muse unfortunately thinking back the hardware specs of the Nervegear are capable of exactly such an act. Even though they are used at an absolutely minimum power the transmitters embedded in the Nervegear essentially transmit electromagnetic waves exactly the same as the ever-present microwave kitchen appliance. "No, he is right…the Nervegear can essentially boil our brains if the safeties are bypassed. If anyone alive could do that it would be Kayaba."

" **The media and authorities were notified of this consequence. Sadly however, many ignored these warnings. As a result, 213 players have already been deleted from both Aincrad and the real world."**

Many windows pop up all over the plaza, like the monstrous television screens in a baseball stadium. They show coverage from all over japan and even farther abroad. There are lists and statistics showing players who have already died, those who are still trapped, even news coverage of police and paramedics showing up at houses. For a moment I even see my own house in a window, with my mother holding my crying sister, outside the police tape around the house.

" **There is no reason to fear for your physical bodies, the warnings and the resulting deaths have been covered extensively on media worldwide. The probability of further deaths caused by the outside are near zero. With this knowledge you can now focus on clearing the game."**

I feel little comfort from his announcement. It is pretty clear I am not the only one as the shouts and demands to be let out increase from the players around me. It is hard to believe that with the might of the Japanese government and technology that someone will not find a way to bypass the fatal fail-safe, but with a genius like Kayaba I personally will not be counting on it.

" **Additionally, if your HP reaches zero your avatar will be permanently deleted, and simultaneously the Nervegear will terminate your brain in the real world."**

In that moment, I imagine my paper cut from earlier still on my finger, blood dripping on the paving stones beneath my feet. I check my HP for a second just to make sure that its not dropping. The image flashes to one of my first fights in the beta, when I died to one of the very same boars, I taught Klein to fight with today. I missed my first attack, not yet understanding Sword Skills, and it rams into me my HP dropping to 0 and my avatar disappearing into voxels.

" **Please proceed with caution, Aincrad is no longer a game and is now your new reality. All resurrection items have been removed from the game and respawn is no longer possible."**

Oh God. Does that mean Coper died earlier today, am I a murderer now? Is that why I got his entire inventory in the drop? Is he one of the 213, or was that only the ones who had the Nervegear removed? I hardly get any time to process that as Kayaba continues on with his speech.

" **The only way to return to the real world is to conquer all hundred floors and defeat the boss on the 100** **th** **floor. Upon completion all surviving players will be able to safely log out once again."**

I am startled as Klein begins to shout, "That's impossible, not even the Beta Testers made it that far." Its starting to sink in that this isn't a matter of months, more like years, or even a decade. The scope of SAO was certainly not intended to be cleared in just a year. Can they even keep our bodies alive that long?

" **Due to Sword Art Online being your reality some of the other game rules have changed, there is a day one patch altering the parameters of the game. All players will receive a message outlining the changes."**

What sort of changes? My orange cursor now weighing heavily on me. Before, it would have gone away in a week at most. With player killing now being murder that could have changed. Would my knowledge of the beta even be valid anymore, would the bosses be different? Would the dungeon and tower labyrinths be different? I see my mail icon blink, but now isn't the time to check that. Kayaba's speech is not giving anyone time to verify or process anything.

" **To help show you this world is your new reality I have included a gift in every player's inventory. Please open it and take a look."**

I open my inventory menu, before I can even select it a mirror pops into my hands. Whatever the purpose Kayaba is not taking risks of even a single player not using it. I see people near me not even opening their menu but still holding mirrors. I look down into its reflective surface expecting to see my avatar's face I am shocked when I see my own real-world face. A blinding flash of light, like the blue curtain effect of a teleport hides my view of the other players. Stunned, I jump a little with I hear Klein call my name. Turning to look at him, gone is the fantasy anime samurai, in his place scruffy young man you would expect to see in a store taking your cash, not clad in armor with a sword on his hip. "Who are you?"

"Who am I, who are you? The unfamiliar man shouts back equally shocked. It must be Klein…" Klein is that you, its me Kirito" His face resolves from confusion into recognition. "Kirito…" I look at my body, I know how it got my face, but what about my build. I reply to Klein, "I get the face, the Nervegear could map its shape and features…but how did it get our body type?"

Klein looks like he has that part figured out. "Since I just did it I remember the calibration, you know where the game had you pat down your body like this." He mimes the calibration procedure and it jogs my memory. That is right when I first logged into SAO before even the character creation it had me do that as well. "That's right…I forgot."

All over the square there are players both male and female in the garb of the opposite gender. This isn't like the past where game populations were heavily male leaning. It used to be a common knowledge that half the female players were men. Still though VR would present a vivid opportunity to cross-play as the opposite gender, see how the other half lives. With the voice engine capable of changing your voice into a believable version of what you would sound like as the opposite sex there would be no way to tell. I cannot see it being a pleasant experience for most men, guys online are not very well behaved towards women. There was even a pair by the edge of the square who were beating on an invisible wall to be let out, now staring at each other in shock. "You're not a girl!" "You're not a boy!" If the situation was different, I would be laughing right now.

" **You may be asking yourselves, Why? Why would Kayaba Akihiko developer of the Nervegear and Sword Art Online do this. Is it an act of terrorism, an attempt to ransom the players, or some other small-minded goal?"**

" **None of these goals are what I have in mind. In fact, my goals have already been achieved. I created the Nervegear and SAO for this very situation, to observe people in a world of my own creation. Nothing more."**

" **This concludes the tutorial of Sword Art Online, Best of luck to all of you"**

Players all over the plaza now are screaming, as Kayaba's GM avatar disappears. The message universally clear, "Let us out!" I grab Klein's hand and run to the nearest plaza exit and into an alleyway. I have to get out of here, before someone notices my orange cursor and makes assumptions…as correct as they may be. "Klein, I can't stay here, even if I didn't have this orange cursor we would need to get out before the other player's pick the fields clean.

Klein gives me a baleful look, probably just realizing that I had the cursor from earlier and why. "I can't go, my friends, the ones I mentioned are probably back in that square right now confused and scared." If I was green, I would be weighing the possibilities of taking more players with us, but as it stands the point is moot. "That's fine, you shouldn't go with me, people spot you with me they will think you aided a murderer."

"Hey, don't think like that Kirito, you are not a murderer, you didn't know, and if you hadn't acted, I would be…the…one…dead…." His face goes pale as he realizes how close he came to death. I hadn't even thought about how close he came to death, focused on my questioning my own morality. "Its beside the point, we don't have time to talk about this right now. I really have to get out of here before anyone sees me. I will message you later, you go find your friends"

Klein looks at me and back towards the plaza guilt clearly written all over his face. "Okay, but dude if you need anything you let me know." Before I can respond, a message pops up in the center of my field of vision. "Safe Zone Anti-Harassment Online, 5 minutes until Guards are dispatched." It must have disabled for the tutorial. Kayaba had to know there were going to be players who had already killed or committed crimes against other players.

Looking back to Klein, "Okay I really got to get out of here now, see you around." I turn around looking to the way out the nearest gate being the one we used earlier. Klein responds, "Peace dude, stay safe man." I turn to respond but he is already gone, probably to go find his friends. I understand, but suddenly I feel so alone. Even more so than I did at home ignoring my family. "You too…", I say to the empty alley.

I turn back and start running, the timer is already under 4 minutes and counting. Its enough time to get to the gate but it will be close. The "Town of Beginnings" is not a small place, designed to hold the entire population of SAO at once. I zig and zag through the various back alleys I make my way to the western gate. Its not the most direct route, but certainly by now players are starting to make their way out. Just as I pass through the gate, I see two guards spawn in a shower of blue light and make their way towards me, only to stop and stand to either side of the wide doorway.

I almost miss a deep male voice shout, "Hey that player is orange, MURDERER!" before I cut hard to my left westbound away from the more popular hunting grounds and far south of Horunka Village. I am not sure if that player or any others tried to follow me. I dive past the underbrush on the edge of a large forest to hide myself from view. As I run on the barely visible game trails, I see several mobs in front of me. In this area they should almost all be wolves, they won't attack but I need the experience. Once I am sure I have lost the players I start attacking the wolves as I run.

With my "Anneal Blade" and being level 2 it only takes a single sword skill to end the level 1 wolves. I hit each wolf in my path which "Rage Spike" using the charge attack to move even faster through between the trees. The Sword Skill delay only affects attacks, not movement so I keep running moving at top speed, with occasional bursts of speed as the global cool down expires and I can execute the next 'Rage Spike'. I continue my way deeper into the woods gradually heading further and further away from civilization. I will grow stronger, I will survive this death game. First though, with the safe zones off limits to me I need to find a safe place to bed down and plan.

 _Next Time on A Darker Shade of Black:_

 _Was Kirito Identified leaving the "Town of Beginnings?" Kirito finds a safe haven, has a breakdown and finds resolve to make plans to keep going in this death game. The players go offline as Kayaba gives a window to move them to extended care at hospitals and other facilities. Kirito gets a chance to review the patch notes and find out how long he is flagged orange and other changes. Then throws himself into grinding at a pace that under other circumstances would have been reserved for later in the game._

 _Revision 00302032019_


	2. Preparation

This writing is a derived work of Sword Art Online, Conceived and written by Kawahara Reki, Illustrated by Abec, published by ASCII Media Works, and adapted to the Anime format by A-1 Pictures. Please support the official release.

Author Note: This chapter starts much slower and is almost entirely without dialogue. There is a lot of exposition and world building for my version of SAO. Some may notice my odd use of numbers, I am trying to use numerals for game data, numbers of enemies, levels, stats, etc. and words for spoken or non-game related numbers. Though I handle it completely different, the focus on hiding skill, and plan to use acrobatics is inspired the aforementioned "Orange" by LeviTamm, if you like this fic please give theirs a read.

Darker Shade of Black

Chapter Two, Preparation

As I flee from the 'Town of Beginnings' heading further west and deeper into the 'Deep Forest' my mind is racing. I picked my direction in the heat of the moment, because the edge of the forest to the west of town gave me coverage. Moving north or east through the grasslands would have made it impossible for me to avoid the more determined players heading into the field instead of staying in the safe zone for the night. Which isn't to say anything about the possible pursuit of whomever spotted me leaving the town.

I will have to make more long-term plans, but for now I need to handle my immediate needs. I need to find shelter for the night. With my orange cursor I will not be able to stay in any of the safe zones, which includes all the inns even the ones located in the villages too small to warrant a safe zone of their own. I need to consider two factors, players and monsters alike. Monsters are easy, the spawns are somewhat predictable and with a few minutes of observation I can verify if a spot is away from both spawns and patrols. Players…that is a more difficult hurdle.

I stop and lean against a sturdy oak tree. Taking a deep breath to calm myself I pause to think. Players with the search skill will be able to easily see my orange icon on their map or the cursor itself if I am out in the open. Even without time to swap my 'Light Armor' skill for 'Hiding' I do not have to worry about their 'Searching' skill to be high enough to see my cursor through objects, or from a great distance, for now… The design of the game must have included hideouts and the like for orange players. I just need to find one, out of the way, away from monster spawns, where I cannot be seen easily.

I pull out a torch from my inventory and use the interface to light it. I am far enough out now, my mad dash using 'Rage Spike' to move even faster as I chained killed level 1 mobs, as taken me far out of the reach of other starting players. Honestly, it might have been easier to just spring, but I'd rather use my SP to get a few kills on the way. The speed is about the same either way if somewhat situational relying on mobs to target and attack. I also went into the woods, in the dark, right after the psychological trauma of Kayaba's reveal. I am confident no other players would be coming this way until at least morning. With the light of the torch casting its orange-yellow glow on trees I start to walk north looking for shadowed spots that might indicate a cave or hollowed tree.

I walk forward, exhausted at least mentally if not physically, my powerful avatar body has full HP and SP, but my mind needs rest. Checking several promising spots, I still have not managed to find a spot to rest. I stop suddenly, there is something above me in the trees. I move the torch to push back the shadows on a nearby branch. An owl looks back blinking at me, "Hoot Hoot". "Oh, its just a bird, you had me startled there for a moment." There…behind the owl, I think there is a hollow just a few branches off. If there is that would be perfect for the night. None of the monsters on the 1st floor fly more than a meter or so off the ground. Far as I can remember only the bee type enemies fly at all on this floor. Its not until higher floors that I have to worry about something like that.

Stashing the torch in my inventory I start to climb the tree. I curse my lack of an 'Acrobatics' skill, while my SP drains from climbing. I make my way to the branch the owl is sitting on. As my hand reaches for the branch, with an indignant hoot the owl flies away to land on another tree in the distance. I haul myself up and sit on the branch, resting to let my meager SP of a level 2 player fill back up. While I wait, I pull the torch back out of my inventory, touching the light icon on it to re-ignite its flame.

The flames light the branches of the tree I am sitting in casting light much higher than when I was standing on the ground. There, the spot I saw from the ground, now I can see inside. There is a hollow! Its not very big, certainly not big enough to lay in, but if I can get up there, I can at least sit with my legs stretched out onto the limb and the rest of me hidden from sight inside the tree.

Another few minutes of climbing and resting while my SP I finally get to the hollow. Without my torch lit I can barely see what I am doing, but I need both hands to climb. Now that I am here, I underestimated the size of the hollow. Its at least a meter tall and half a meter deep. Still not enough to lay down, but I can get my entire body inside if I sit and pull my knees inside. Doing just that, I take a deep breath, finally I can rest and consider sleeping.

It is now well after midnight, and my mental exhaustion is at my absolute limits. On a normal day I could easily grind levels, or play for more than 24 hours straight, but today has been anything but normal. For the first time since during the Kayaba's megalomaniacally monologue I can stop and think back on the events of today, some good, far more of them bad.

I met Klein, though I have just met him I would like to think of him as a friend. We both got a good head start, got our 'Anneal Blades', and even leveled up to the second level. Then it just went down from there, not that I knew it at the time I saved Klein's life but at the cost of another player's, Coper. Does that mean I am a murderer now? Is it enough that I did it in ignorance and to save another person's life? It was so easy, no different than the multiple times I defended myself in the beta from PKers. Just superior skills and the luck of getting the drop on him.

"Would it be that easy for someone to kill me?" I mumble to myself. Tears build up in my eyes, unbidden. I long to go back to Horunka Village and check on little Agatha, the little NPC girl that the 'Secret Medicine of the Forest' quest saves. I didn't even go inside this time, too busy with Klein. If I was there right now and not orange, I could ask to stay in their guest bedroom. Would it have made a difference, if I was alone Coper could have just died to the 'Little Nepents" foolishly trying to hide from them.

Now openly crying, no one is here to see it anyway. Is life really so fragile as to end in a few swipes of a virtual sword? It could have been me, to Coper, another player, or even one of the monsters in the field. I would have to get stronger, stronger than I ever did in beta. I died plenty pushing myself to fight mobs several levels higher than myself. I would have to operate with some sort of safety margin now, at least at first. A beep sounds as if it is in my head, a notification beep for a message received.

I rub my eyes and force myself to stop crying. Opening my inbox, there is two messages, one from earlier during the Tutorial. Looks like it's a list of changes, patch notes for now that SAO was a death game. The next was from Klein, sent seconds ago. I click again opening it, it would do to have something to think about other than my own mortality.

"To: Kirito

From: Klein

Subject: You still awake?

Yo, Kirito,

I found the other guys, we went out into the field for a bit to gather the col for an inn room for night. You weren't kidding the fields are being picked dry, and it seems most of the players aren't even leaving town yet. We only managed to get enough col for one room so most of us are sleeping on the floor. As their old guild leader, they gave me the bed, can you believe that? We aren't even able to form as an official guild yet in SAO.

Thanks again, you really saved my ass earlier dude. Without you… stopping that player I would be dead now. Stop beating yourself up over it, you are not a murder or a killer, you saved me, like a policeman, or a hero from the old warring states stories. I may not know you that well yet, but I saw the look on your face. Which suits you much better by the way.

Rumors around town are is that two orange players were spotted heading opposite directions. People are already speculating that there has to be more. I heard that orange players cannot use Inns or go into any town large enough to be a safe zone. If that's true I hope you found a safe place to shack up for the night. If you need anything from a merchant or something you can trust me, I won't take your col and run. I owe you one.

Well I need to try and hit the hay, me and the guys are forming full party and I am going to teach them what you taught me.

Peace Dude "

I don't have it in me to respond right now, besides he said he is going to sleep. I still have a lot to process before I feel comfortable talking to anyone. For now, I got to make a plan, I will bury these feelings and deal with them later or never would be fine too. I think I should check out the patch notes email before I do anything else. I close Klein's message and bring up the one from Cardinal. Who is that?

"To: All Players

From: Cardinal, System Administrator

Subject: Launch Patch 1.01

Welcome Player, to Sword Art Online. There have been several changes to Sword Art Online for the launch. As the player's new reality several quality of life changes have been made to the game.

The log out button is disabled. Players are no longer able to log out until the 100th floor boss has been defeated

Any external attempts to remove the player from the game will result in the termination of both avatar and player

Medical Services will be permitted a 2-hour window any time on 07/12/2022 to disconnect and move players to extended care facilities. Failure to relocate players during the permitted time will result in the termination of both avatar and player.

Player kills after 17:30 06/11/2022 will result in a permanent orange player flag. Player kills between 13:00 and 17:29 will result in an orange player flag with a probation period, lasting until 05/12/2022 at 17:30. Any further crimes committed will be considered violating probation and players will receive a permanent orange flag.

Players will receive 2 free skill slots limited to trade skills. Further trade skills slots will be unlocked through quests available every 10th floor. Other skill slots may still be used as normal for Combat, Support, or Trade Skills.

Player data will be collected to refine the sensory input data.

Good Luck Players"

Well, it may be labeled as from this Cardinal person, but the words are certainly Kayaba's. Even the reference to this world being a new reality was there. In some ways it is a more clinical retelling of the tutorial, somehow colder than Kayaba himself was.

I sigh as I close my mail menu. I am not sure whether to be relieved or to curse the changes made to the 'Criminal Code'. On one hand I will not be inflicted with a permanent orange player flag, on the other I will have to wait far more than the one week used in the beta test. The next thirty days are going to be tough.

From my experience leaving the 'Town of Beginnings' last night lead me to believe that the rest of the 'Criminal Code' remain the same. I will not be able to enter of the safe zones, which will severely limit the quests and merchants available to me. Even the smaller villages that do not count as safe zones will be of little aid to me. I need to avoid all players who can attack me with no consequence, because any self defense on my part will violate my probation. Klein got that right from the rumors, must be some former beta players already telling others what the know. They had better be careful, gamers are a fickle jealous lot. Hopefully they are doing it anonymously or through any info brokers if any have started yet. I wonder if Argo is up to her old tricks again. I could easily see her already selling information and buying just enough to create a cover for being a beta player.

The trade skill slots are another big change. I can understand it, when SAO was just a game there were engaging game mechanics to keep crafting players entertained without venturing too far afield. Now that it's a death game Kayaba had to provide some sort of incentive to allow the hardcore crafters to still have room for combat skills. As a hardcore combat player, I never bothered with any of the trade skills, but even now I can see the benefit to solo players having a few trade skill slots to maintain their own gear, or make some extra col. In my current situation its going to be key to my survival. For the next thirty days I am going to need to survive with nearly no access to merchants to replace, or smiths to repair my gear.

"So, my current state of affairs…" I open my menu again and pull up the floor map and drag it to the right corner of the hollow. On it I have mapped out a very small portion of the floor, little more than lines of the paths Klein and I traveled, and then my wild flight from the 'Town of Beginnings'. My current location places me about an hour or so jog from the edge of the west most portion of the floor and well to the northwest of Horunka Village. The nearest town 'Medai', its easily the western most town on the floor, barely bigger than Horunka, but its still at least two hours away from me.

That is good for me, not many players are going to venture this way. Its basically the wrong direction for anyone looking to clear the floor and the grasslands and lake are far easier for farming experience. From what I can remember there are no good quests that bring players out this way. Though to be honest I spent very little time here during the beta, so I am not even sure what all is here. The 1st floor doesn't have a theme like the seven I experienced above it. Its mostly generic plant and animal-based monsters. The only humanoids are the kobolds as you move into the mountainous regions of the northern side of the floor. They are all around level 9 or 10 so it doesn't make any sense to go that way yet.

I will have to scout tomorrow and find out what level mobs are in this region. I am not so close to the 'Town of Beginnings' so I doubt they are going to be below level 3 or 4. I will have to operate without a safety margin for a bit, but it would be more dangerous to head towards lower level mob spawns. The chance of encountering players would be much higher. Sighing, oh well it should be fine, SAO is still at its core a fair MMORPG, I should be able to take on mobs 2 or 3 levels higher than myself no problem if I am careful and do not overpull.

Now, what about items? I have my starter equipment, its rather forgiving on durability as it meant to last until a player earned some col. None of it is below 90% durability. I have an extra set from Coper…I pause and then shake my head I cannot think about that right now. Because he died wearing it, its all below 75% durability, but it will still serve as a backup. So that makes one pair of 'Black Boots' another pair of 'Brown Boots', then black and brown 'Beginners Leather Armor' and two sets of color customizable tunics with pants for non-armor clothing. Weapon wise, that leaves me with my 'Anneal Blade' and two 'Small Swords' mine and Coper's. I'll equip the more beat up of the two 'Small Swords'. I need to save my 'Anneal Blade' until I need it the 'Small Sword' should serve just fine for killing mobs just a bit higher than myself.

Outside of equipment, I have the drops from today's battles: 11 wolf skins, 20 wolf fangs, 16 wolf flanks, 65 plant vines and a few dozen various herbs for mixing. Then I just have the 3 potions a player starts with, as well as Coper's 3 health pots. That is not a lot to work with. My col is basically worthless unless I decide to let Klein make merchant runs for me. I would hate to take up any of his time while he is getting five other players up to speed.

Last for tonight, will be working on my skill layout. I need to abandon my 'Light Armor' skill to make room for 'Hiding'. I would prefer to wait until level 5 and go with 'Searching', but right now being sure I can hide if other players come about is more important. I swipe through my menu moving 'Light Armor' to inactive, sighing as the the 10 points already accrued reset to zero. I slide hiding into active skills and immediately activate it.

There, with 'Hiding' equipped and activated it will begin leveling immediately. It won't go as fast as if I was hiding near active mobs, but it will gain levels slowly. It should also reduce my threat radius so that nothing below can detect me. The downsides are it reduces movement speed by 25% while active and does nothing for scent or sound. The second-tier skill 'Sneaking' unlocked after maxing out 'Hiding' doesn't have the same disadvantages. It replaces the 'Hiding' skill starting over at 0/1000, but with all the benefits of 'Hiding' already incorporated at the onset. Just one of the ways SAO provides for player skills with limited skill slots.

I will have to wait before I consider any further combat or support skills, I will get another point at level 5, and then again at level 10, and only every ten levels after that.

Now, what to do with these two trade slots. I scroll down to the trade skills section of my inactive skill list. It will only show the ones available to me to select unless I check the all skills check box. I am looking for something that will help me survive or be more comfortable. As I scroll, I see several I do not remember from the beta test. Looks like they added several generic trade skills, that do less than the specialized versions. Oh, this one is perfect.

'Wilderness Survival'

Combines the crafting basics of many skills for surviving off the land. Perfect for the lone adventurer. Limited to survivalist themed crafting recipes.

Starting Skills:

'Gathering off the Land': Player can gather identify and pick edible and medicinal plants, deadfall wood, and many other natural resources.

'Stone Tools': Player can craft low durability tools used for a number of 'Wilderness Survival' crafting recipes.

'Wilderness Shelter': Player can construct simple shelters from sticks and hides.

'Bushcraft Cooking': Player can prepare simple dishes of meat and edible plants without any additional seasoning.

'Whetstone': Players can craft and use whetstones to restore 10% of a weapons durability, at a cost of 5% of the total durability.

'Hedgecraft Mixing': Player can make simple healing poultices and natural poisons.

Well, not as useful as I hoped but it will do for now. It seems balanced to be useful at low levels and replaced later. I cannot see myself not replacing it later, but I am not big on trade skills anyway so it's not a big deal if I lose the progress. I quickly lock it into my active skills list. Hopefully it becomes a bit more useful as I level it up, but the starting skills should do for now.

For my second skill, I guess I will pick 'Appraisal' it will be good to be able to identify any gear I find since I cannot go find another player to do it for now. I can see it being useful even later. NPCs don't ever level the skill past being useful on just low-level items. That leaves the prices to the fickle whims of the player economy. I slide it into active skills alongside 'Wilderness Survival'.

That's it, there is nothing more I can do tonight, its nearly 3am already…Unable to finish my thought I black out.

I open my eyes blinking at the bright light and the sound of bird song. What was that last night, I suddenly went unconscious? I remember back to the patch notes…Ah, that must have been it, I guess they were pulling double time over night using the early morning hours to get ahead of moving players to hospitals to hook them…us to life support. I pale suddenly, that is an unsettling thought. My real body is now sitting in some hospital hooked up to life support. I shake my head, I cannot think about that now, or ever. There is nothing I can do about it except win this game.

I swipe my hand down activating the menu. It is 10:00 AM, I must have continued sleeping after I was reconnecting from being moved. I didn't have time to set an alarm, how would that even work in a virtual world. I guess I will find out later. Blinking trying to wake the rest of the way up, I notice two alerts in my UI, a message from Argo the Rat, and a friend request…I cannot deal with this right now. I won't wait forever, but I accept the friend request she will see that I am orange, and I just cannot explain that right now.

Climbing out of my tree hollow, my haven for the night I look around. The forest is awash with the sights and sounds of nature, but thankfully I hear no evidence of player activity. My menu still open I check my 'Hiding' skill, it's at level 10/1000, not good enough. I need to go stalk some prey and level it up faster. Even a level one who picked 'Searching' yesterday if they have been leveling it would be able to spot me at a distance. I close my menu its time to get started for the day. I need to do several things, find a more permanent spot to camp, gather materials for crafting, grind 'Hiding', and of course hunt mobs to grow my level. I am about a third of the way into level two I should be able to get level five today.

Level pacing in SAO is much slower than the MMOs of the past. In games past a player could grind several levels in an hour until around level 15 or 20. In SAO its inverted, you grind even the lowest levels in several hours, and the experience requirements only grow over time. The first three floors are all approximately the same level with only a small average level increase. If it hasn't been changed floor 1 should generally tap out at about level 6 in the fields, and 8 or in the dungeons. The next floor will still have some level 1 mobs, but the level range will be closer to 2-8 with some up to level 10 in the dungeons.

The difference in power is not as great in either direction. Level 1 monsters can still be dangerous to a level 10 or higher player especially in larger numbers. It works both ways, a player or large number of players can still slay monsters 10 levels higher than them. Pushing it much more is certain death. Elites or named monsters, especially bosses throw that scale out the window. They are all designed to be harder than average and best tackled in numbers or with a significant level advantage.

All said, it just reinforces that I must be careful until I build up a safety margin. Even after I hit the floor's mob level cap, I can keep grinding for a few more levels before the law of diminishing returns strikes with a vengeance. Even monsters dozens of levels weaker than me will still reward experience but it will take hundreds or even thousands of kills to gain a single level off them. There, that is my goal, level 10 or better before anyone clears the 1st dungeon boss. If they haven't cleared it before my tag goes back to green, I will join the boss battle.

I hop down from my tree, I land on the limb below and then slip. I miss my only attempt at grabbing the limb and I hit the ground in a graceless pile. My HP took a small hit, not even enough to move it out of the green. Looking around to make sure there are no mobs nearby to target me. I am no longer in the newbie zones surrounding the 'Town of Beginnings' past Horunka mobs will target and attack players. I notice several things around me now sparkle with the tell-tale visual effect indicating they are interactable. Looks like the 'Wilderness Survival' skill's gathering component is at work. I can worry about that later, for now I want to get some experience points and level up my 'Hiding' skill.

I walk off, being sure to first mark my tree's location on the map in case I do not find another hideout in my travels today. It isn't long before I spot a 'Dire Wolf' the basic wolf enemy of this floor. The same mobs I was attacking last night on my way here. It is level 4, this won't be an easy fight, but its doable. I would like to pull it away in case there are more in the brush, but I do not want to waste my 'Throwing Picks' until I find a way to get more. Instead I body pull it. A common MMO tactic where a player moves right into its threat range, and then backs up letting it come to them.

I disable my 'Hiding' skill and immediately the wolf spots me. As it bounds over to me, I back up, back the way I came. It glows red briefly, as it uses a wolf version of a sword skill, as it lunges, I step to the side narrowly missing its teeth and claws. I bring down my 'Small Sword" hitting it in the back of the neck as it passes by. A critical hit, but still less damage than even a non-critical hit sword skill, barely enough to drop its HP gauge to 90%. It skids to a halt as I turn around. Snarling it prepares for another lunge, this time I activate 'Rage Spike' and dash quickly towards it, my sword passing through its jaw and body. Another critical hit, its HP is clearly in the yellow now, it would be more or even had finished it off if I was using my 'Anneal Blade' or if I was closer to its level. Stunned it takes a moment to recover from its failed lunge, in the meantime I hit it several more times with simple swings.

Whittling away at its HP is a slow process, but much safer it allows me to conserve my SP. At this level there is only enough to use about three, maybe four sword skills in a row. The delay after each sword skill potentially fatal when playing solo. I can move during the delay, but I am not able to use my sword to attack or block, only able to dodge by moving out of the way. For a few more minutes I toy around with it, side stepping its lunges, and blocking its swipe with my sword. When its HP hits the red, I use 'Vertical' a slice directly through it as if slicing it half. The red line indicate damage appears for only a second before it explodes into voxels and the congratulations prompt appears with my rewards. More of the same for the most part, only thing of note is that this time it dropped a generic bone item. Another side effect of my 'Wilderness Survival' skill, more drops off animal type monsters.

The rest of my morning, and early afternoon follow much the same. I collect quite the stash of wolf pelts, fangs, bones, and meat, with a meager stash of col and decent experience. At this rate I will be level three in another few hours. My 'Hiding' skill is gradually leveling as I keep reactivating it after every battle, with bursts when I am using it near a wolf before I enter scent range and they target me on smell.

Heading further north I spot level 6 and 7 'Forest Kobolds'. Marking the location in my map I head back south. I must have been nearing the northern edge of the forest where it gives away to mountains. I might be willing to tackle something twice my level, but I am not going to risk something three times it or more. After a few more hours I stop in a picturesque clearing by a stream and spend a few minutes gathering sticks and stones. Using the skill all players have at level 1, I build a stone ring and light a campfire. A 20:00 minute time appears near it when I look at indicating how long the fuel will last. Sitting down I craft several 'Raw Meat Kabobs' using some of the sticks and the wolf meat I have been gathering all morning. Like the fire, a 5:00 minute time pops up above each one as I stab them into the dirt around the fire, this time indicating cook time. The skill says they could cook faster if I held one in the flames, but I can take a moment to work on other things while they cook. Still I need to keep an eye on them, if left too long after the time runs out, they will turn into 'Charred Food'.

I open the 'Wilderness Survival' crafting menu and scroll down to the stone tools. I have the stones, and the 'Sticks' or 'Bone' to create them but they all require either tools I have yet to craft, or 'Cordage'. I scroll back up the menu and select craft-able only. There is 'Raw Meat Kabobs' and 'Cordage'. Looks like it uses the 'Vines' that dropped of the Nepents. I click that and follow the directions which basically just amounts to selecting the vines and pulling them apart like chop sticks. Most if not all the skills in SAO are similarly abbreviated from their real-world versions.

Quickly making work of all the vines, I look back to the fire, my 'Cooked Meat Kabobs' are ready. I place them in my inventory except for one to examine and eat. They do not have very much durability, they will last a few hours at best. While there is no in game benefit for eating or drinking, humans find pleasure it and there is a psychological element. You still feel hunger and thirst unless you meet these needs. While there may not be a mechanical benefit, its hard to focus when you feel like you are parched and starving. I quickly devour the kabob, its…tolerable, it is very gamey and really could use salt. I pull another two out of my inventory and eat them just as quickly. Not stopping to think about the flavor all that much.

My hunger sated, I click the button to extinguish the fire and watch as it goes out and the disappears in the explosion of voxels that seems to follow every form of destruction in SAO. Walking over to the stream, I unequip my stand on the shore. Bending over I take a few drinks direct from the stream. I do not have any containers to store it in, and the game does not magically supply them with a gather water skill.

Both my primal needs taken care of, I sit down on a stone with my back on another stone and my feet in the stream. I look around, its so beautiful you could almost forget this was a game, let alone that is now a death game. Sighing to myself I think, it's a shame I cannot risk setting up camp here more permanently. The closest monster spawns are at least 20 meters away from the center of the clearing, and I haven't seen any patrolling mobs pass through. It was probably designed for this exact purpose. A place for players to camp or have a picnic in the game.

Opening my menu once again I go about crafting the tools, that I will need to do anything more. By the time I am done, I have a small pile of tools and my 'Wilderness Survival' skill is sitting at 23. I was able to craft a 'Flint Knife', 'Stone Hatchet', 'Bone Needle', and a "Bone Handled Stone Hammer' it had more durability than using the Wood Handled variant. At 20/1000, I unlocked 'Bone Throwing Picks' I only had three bones left but that was enough to make 30, 10 stacks each. They were somehow even weaker than the starting 'Throwing Picks' hard locked at 1 damage no matter what your 'Strength' stats were. Even the damage of the 'Throwing Picks' scales with 'Strength'.

Using the needle and left-over cordage I was able to make a 'Wolf Hide Cloak' with a +10 bonus to 'Hiding' in Forest Regions. I immediately equipped it to my empty back slot, and the 30 'Bone Throwing Picks' to the belt slot that held my last 5 'Throwing Picks'. I will save those for later as they can do damage and accept a poison charge.

My lunch and crafting break handled, I stand up and re-equip my boots. My feet instantly dry as soon as I pulled them from the river. The water felt nice, not quite real though. SAO had trouble rendering water sensations all through the beta as well, but it has improved. That was a frequent feed back in the beta forums. We citizens of Japan love our hot baths, so it was an important issue for some. Maybe it will continue to improve, every aspect of SAO proved to be very adaptable as the system collects data from the players. The patch notes did say they were continuing to collect data to improve sensory systems.

I check the durability of my 'Small Sword' it should last another few days at least so no need to worry about it now. It will probably become ineffective before it breaks anyway. My armor is still the same durability as it was when I checked my gear last night. I haven't taken a single hit this morning. I already know all the attack patterns of every monster on this floor. Intelligent mobs, like the 'Forest Kobolds' can learn attack patterns as individuals, but beast type mobs like the wolves and Nepents aren't that smart.

It is mid afternoon now, I should be able to spend another few hours leveling my 'Hiding' skill and farming mobs for experience. Hopefully I will spot another place to make camp for the night, something with more room. It may be imagined, but the phantom sensation of feeling stiff after a night passed out in a tree is still fresh in my mind. I continue attacking wolves, and even find a clearing with boar type enemies.

Hours later, as I am making my way in a big circle back towards my tree though, I stumbled into a level 5 'Direwolf Alpha' along side two level 4 'Dire Wolves'. I was not paying attention to the brush around me and they were upon me before I even knew they were there. Still just shy of leveling up to level 3, I am not equipped to be handling this battle. I sprinted away a short distance to gain time to equip my 'Anneal Blade' it is barely in my hand after the equip delay before they close the gap.

Blocking the first lunge from the alpha with my blade, I push back hard sending it tumbling backwards and out of my range. I turn around kicking the first of the two dire wolves in the head briefly stunning it but without the 'Martial Arts' skill doing no damage at all. My SP still low from sprinting, I swing my sword at the second Direwolf slashing through its shoulder. The wolf's HP gauge slides down a small amount. Before I can follow up with another strike both the alpha and the other level 4 wolf have recovered and are on me again. I block the 'Alpha Direwolf' with the edge of my blade, taking damage but dealing some in return. The choice between blocking with the edge or the flat being completely based on damage mitigation in exchange for dealing damage. It gives new meaning to double edged sword. The other wolf bites my right leg, the combined effect being a loss of a quarter of my health. Damn it, I cannot take more hits like that an expect to win this battle.

During the mob's attack delay I leap backwards barely out of the Alpha's melee range, my foot passing through the 'Dire Wolf' as if one of us is a ghost. Snare mechanics thankfully will not show up until higher floors. The only wolf I have damaged swipes with its claws as I land. I step to the side evading the attack entirely and turn counter attacking with a 'Horizontal' hitting both level 4 wolves but missing the alpha entirely. The blade passes through both of their heads, Critical Hit. The previously damaged wolf bursts into voxels, the marked damage increase between the 'Anneal Blade' over the 'Small Sword' is extremely evident. The HP of the other 'Dire Wolf' is in the red only a sliver remaining.

With little time to react the Alpha lunges again, that seems to be its trick, it can rapidly use the lunge skill with a much shorter cooldown in exchange for no attacks during the cooldown. I leap to the side hitting the ground roughly, barely missing its open maw. Scrambling back to my feet, I reach behind me and grab three of the 'Bone Throwing Picks' between my fingers. The three empty slots in the holster filling with more of the remaining picks. With more than one in my hand the system will not allow me to use the 'Throwing' skill to ensure my accuracy, but I am betting on the short range, and the remaining 'Dire Wolf's' health being 3 HP or less. I take aim and throw, just before something heavily hits me from behind and my face is shoved into the dirt and grass.

I look up my HP is in the yellow, very nearly into the red. I shove hard off the ground throwing the Alpha wolf off my back. Quickly I look around, the last 'Dire Wolf' is no where to be seen, it looks like my gamble paid off, I hope… Still this isn't good. I claw my way back on my feet as the 'Alpha Dire Wolf' does the same. My health is at 40%, literally less than 50 hp between and death. Meanwhile, its health is just over 95%, only having taken damage from my sword edge block earlier. Still, with out any adds this battle is far from over. My SP gauge is about half full now, having regenerated from both the sprint, and single sword skill I used before it had regenerated even that far.

Taking the initiative, I use 'Vertical' slicing right between the center of the alpha's eyes. Critical Hit down to 60% HP. During the attack delay, I side step another lunge and the 'Alpha Direwolf' passes by me and out of my melee attack range. As the stiffness in my arms fades indicating the delay is over, I queue up the initial motion for 'Rage Spike' and let go, I dash forward as if pulled by my sword, rapidly closing the distance and my attack connects. Cursing my luck, the level gap struck in the worst possible way, I got a glancing blow, my 'One-Handed Sword' skill trumped by the wolf's higher defense stat. Still, our HP are at least equal now at 40% each, no way to tell without the appropriate skill if its absolute HP is higher or lower than my own.

Its attack delay over it lunges again, this time I am ready, but with no time to move I place the flat of my blade in front of my chest. The snarling teeth of the wolf clamp along the blade as it slams into my chest. My armor and the block the brunt of the damage, but still my HP drops to 20% pushing me below the 1/3rd mark turning the bar blood red. However, I have it now, its right in front of me, its stuck in its attack delay, and I prime the motion for 'Vertical'. Strictly speaking against simple floor mobs, 'Vertical' does more damage but rarely hits more than one target, while 'Horizontal' does less damage, but can easily hit 2 or even 3 mobs. Without another thought, I release the tension allowing the system hook to guide my strike. My sword passes through the wolf's head, it misses the center, not a critical hit, but its not a glancing blow either. The 'Alpha Dire Wolf's' HP gauge drops to zero and the Congratulation prompt appears along with a 'Quest Complete' message as the body explodes into light.

Quest? What Quest? I check the quest log as I flop onto my back exhausted both mentally and my SP at absolute 0. The quest log pops up between me and the forest foliage and bits of blue sky above me.

"Radiant Quest, Clear the Wolf Den

Prerequisite: At least one member of the party has 'Wolf Hide Cloak' equipped

Objective: Defeat the 'Alpha Dire Wolf' and its pack"

Last Attack Bonus: 'Alpha Wolf Hide' Rank D

Reward: 'Forest Wolf Den Deed'

Complete!"

"Level Up: Level 3"

That makes sense, while most of the quest players undertake in SAO are given by NPCs or Lore Objects. There are quests scattered around the floors only triggered by certain requirements. Sometimes as simple as entering an area, sometimes as complex as having a certain skill or item equipped. Frequently trade skill items and quests work like that, requiring blacksmiths to go into the field to find the best ores. It looks like this is a quest for players with the 'Wilderness Survival' skill or have bought the cloak from one.

What is this about a deed? Generally, those costs hundreds of thousands of Col or more to get a house, and larger buildings ranging in the millions.

"The person who holds this deed has ownership of the Forest Wolf Den, located in the 1st Floor Deep Woods"

Well, that is helpful, it doesn't even give a precise location. Well I can only assume it must be nearby, since the wolves were all here. First though, I pull up my menu and select the level up. I assigned all three of my points to Agility. Right now, I need the edge of moving faster, being able to dodge quicker, and I am already planning to pick up the acrobatics skill at level 5 which ties directly into agility. I will focus on strength later. The level up took care of my low health, my HP and SP gauges both now at 100%, and with higher maximum values than they had before.

Finished with applying my level up, I look around for a few minutes back in the direction the wolves attacked from. I pass through the underbrush that hid them from my view and see a rocky hill hidden from view by the brush and trees. Still seeing no den, I climb up the hill, grabbing a trunk of a bush on the next ledge I haul myself up to sit down and let my SP refill. After a few minutes waiting I turn around to walk past the bush to continue climbing, but I stop suddenly. There it is! The den opening, an icon blinks in front of indicating it is purchasable property. I press my finger against it. A window pops up indicating the only requirement is the deed, with a purchase price of 0 Col. I press accept and the location marker changes to "Wolf Den, Owner: You"

I crouch down to enter, the opening is not so tall that I can stand, but not so low that I have to crawl either. The narrow passage continues downward. Once inside it opens into a much larger space. It is too dark I cannot see a thing, the light from the opening is almost nonexistent. I equip my torch the durability is at about 50% from using it last night. I take a few steps down the floor is a rounded bowl shape. The center of the bowl is flat, probably just shy of 4 meters in diameter.

The location marker on the map indicates this is a safe area, but there is an asterisk beside it. I check it quickly, I need to know if there is a catch. "Safe Area *From Monsters Only*" Okay, not great but honestly its better than I expected from a free home deed. To be frank, free is about all this place is worth, but for me in my current situation it might as well be a penthouse in downtown Tokyo. Heck this is bigger than some of the apartments people live in the city. The floor is dirt, the walls are a rounded like a bowl placed on top of another bowl.

Because it counts as property, I can place items here and not have them disappear after a while. This is exactly the sort of home base I need on this floor. Its not glamorous but it will do. Its almost dusk, I have a bit more day light to gather by. I will spend the remaining daylight gathering. Before heading out I reactivate my 'Hiding' skill.

I climb out of my new home, literally a hole in the ground. As I climb back down the hill, it's hard to miss that I cannot really see the opening at all unless I am standing on the ledge. The bush I used to climb up early hiding it almost entirely from view from below. I head down into the woods, I am certain the wolf pack for this den won't respawn, but I need to keep an eye out for other mobs wandering nearby.

It has been nearly an hour, the sun is down now, and I am heading back to my new home. I managed to gather a good amount of sticks, stones, and some various herbs for either cooking or mixing, I am not sure which yet. I also found a non-monster drop source of vines. Occasionally trees will have vines coiled around them you can harvest with the 'Flint Knife'. Once I get back, my first order of business is to level up my 'Wilderness Survival' Skill more and see if I can make anything new. My throat is dry, but without anything to carry water in and it already being dark I will have to wait until morning to find something to drink.

Climbing back into the Den I busy myself starting a campfire, as I place the last stone in the circle the system pops up a prompt. "Create temporary 'Campfire' or permanent 'Firepit'?" I select the latter, must be a side effect of this counting as a residence. Spawning several sticks from my inventory I place them into the firepit and press the light button. I am delighted to find that this time there is no duration time on the fire. It works just like the fireplaces in the player housing and inns.

It's been a long day and seeing as its winter it dark pretty early, its not even 7:00 PM yet. Plenty of time to get some other work done. Due to my home being a safe zone the hiding skill isn't leveling so I disable it. My 'Cooked Meat Kabobs' from earlier have all disappeared, the durability ran out. That is fine, I have plenty of raw meat from fighting wolves all day. I start my dinner cooking and turn back to my crafting menu.

First, I break down all the vines I found coiled around trees while I was gathering. I need the 'Cordage' anyway, and any RPG player knows you use all the refining skills first to level up before you craft any actual items. Then I continue to break down all but two of the wolf hides, and the 'Alpha Wolf Hide' into rawhide. I am not sure what I can do with yet, nothing in my crafting menu uses it, but it unlocked at 20/1000. After completing the rawhide, I check the crafting list, there is now a list of armor items available all usable by level 3, the 'Black Rawhide Armor Set'. I check the stats they are better than my beginner gear, but worse than anything an actual leather crafter could make at this level or even store-bought armor. Still an improvement is an improvement. It covers three slots, pants, chest, and wrists. I craft all three pieces, it uses up nearly all the rawhide I had, but it will be worth it to take a bit less damage.

For now, I leave it in my inventory and continue with crafting. The 'Rawhide Waterskins' recipe has become available. If they stack anything like the drinks you buy complete with cup, they will be perfect for my month long exile. I have enough raw hide to craft 6 and then move on to see if anything is left. Two more things I can and need to craft now. One item that is just nice, but will make sleeping more comfortable, 'Animal Hide Bedroll' and the 'Alpha Wolf Hide Cloak' to already replace the one I just made today. Hey, got to take an upgrade when I get one.

A few minutes later I am sitting in my black rawhide armor with bits of wolf fur still along the edges, ridges along the chest and belly of the chest piece giving the illusion of a six pack and pictorial muscles. The gauntlets equally "barbarian" black leather bands with wolf fur on either side. The pants in comparison are tame, they are just straight black leather but appear rather tight on my frame. Still wearing the boots, I started with. I guess boots are too complex of an item for a survivalist to craft.

Topping of the ensemble my new 'Alpha Wolf Hide Cloak' with a +15 bonus to 'Hiding' and a defense boost. Using my 'appraisal' skill it identified as a 'D-Rank' item unlike the rest of my gear at 'E-Rank'. SAO uses the E through A followed by S ranking system. Comparable to Western RPGs color coded, uncommon, rare, and legendary scale. Easily the best piece of gear I have right now, despite the dubious usefulness of crafting with the 'Wilderness Survival' skill, the higher-quality material places it more in line with a rare monster drop on the 1st floor.

Sitting in front of my camp fire, in a wolves' den, eating charred meat off a stick with my hands, wearing leather and fur, I look like a character out of that series on HBO that just ended in 2019. If I wear the hood up, I look more like a dangerous humanoid enemy than a player. If it wasn't late autumn in Aincrad, I would be burning up like this. The temperate model varies floor by floor but generally follows the seasons of Japan. It is odd that this floor is so green despite night time temperatures being below 14 C. Chalk up another oddity to this is a virtual reality not actual reality.

Finished eating, I take a moment to craft a few whetstones. My 'Anneal Blade' doesn't need it yet, its only at 95% durability, and I really would like to hold out for a player smith to do it, so I don't take the -5% max durability debuff from the whetstone. The two 'Small Swords' on the other hand are both not valuable enough and both are damaged below 85%, one from fighting with it nearly all day, and the other from the death of the…player who carried it before. After a few moments stroking the stone against the blades each sword is repaired to 100% with the maximum value now 5% lower than it was before.

With all my crafting, dinner, and upkeep done for today I think I can finally take time to respond to Argo and Klein. I open the message menu, there is another message from Klein, but only the first one from Argo. I skim Klein's second message, its just more of the same, basically worried I had not responded yet and letting me know that he got his whole team up to level two today and himself to level three. I select Argo's message next and open it.

"

To: Kirito

From: Argo

Subject: I already know! Accept the damn friend request.

Kiibou,

I already know about your Orange flag. I overheard some samurai wannabe named Klein telling his team about how you taught him everything he knows about SAO. I didn't even have to buy the information off him. Once I told him you were my friend, stretching it I know, but you were one of my best business partners in the Beta. Anyway, once I described you and told him I was your friend, he caved quickly. He told me about how you saved his life and got an orange marker before we knew about the consequences. I know you read the same patch notes I did. You can't be seen in town and I cannot be seen with you. However, I am willing to sell you information on credit until you are green again. At a 50% increase of course! So. accept the damn friend request so I uses the DM system instead of the mail. I won't sell you out, I swear it.

Argo

The Rat

"

I sigh, I am pretty sure I can trust her. Argo would sell her own grandmother for cash, but if she says she is going to do or not do something she honors her deals. She is a sort of gamer Yakuza, she has her honor as warped as it may be. Friending her though would give her more than the ability to direct message me, it would also give her my location. Come to think of it, why did Klein even need to ask where I was. Must still be learning the ropes and didn't click the player tracking beside my name.

Taking a deep breath, I click accept on Argo's friend request. It only takes a moment before I receive a message from her.

Argo: Kiibou, you finally got around to reading my message I see. Its rude to keep a lady waiting.

Kirito: Argo, I don't want to talk about it, can we leave it as I needed time.

Argo: Sure, but you owe me a juicy piece of information for keeping me waiting.

Kirito: I will let you know when I find something new, that I am willing to share. I am going to bed, good night Argo.

Argo: Ja ja whatever, I will hit you up if I find out anything to help you, for the usual price, plus hazard pay.

With a swipe I close the direct message window. Time to respond to Klein, while I have been doing all this it has gotten late, and I do not really want to talk so I think I will send a message in the mail.

"To: Klein

From: Kirito

Subject: Re: You still awake?

Klein, you didn't need to ask where I was, continue this a continuation of our lessons. Press the player name in your friends list, and two slots down from direct message is player tracking. If you select that it will show you where I am on a floor, and what floor I am on. If you don't have the map data you won't be able to tell details, just a dot on a blank section of map.

I am fine, I do not want to talk about it. Let's focus on surviving this death game. I also got level three today and worked on leveling up some skills. I found a safe place to stay, but its only safe from monsters not players, so keep my location to yourself. Whatever else you do, stay away. You saw the patch notes; my cursor will remain orange until early next month. If I need your help, I will let you know. You can trust the player Argo to a point, but please do not give her any more information about me. Also, you big dumb ronin, you could have gotten Col out of whatever you already told her, she charges for every scrap of verified information, you should always do the same when dealing with her.

Anyway, I am staying off grid for awhile see you in a month or so.

Kirito

PS: That scruffy mug suits you better too."

There that should get the both off my back for a while. Argo will be too busy to pester me and will take me at my word that I will share information with her if I find any information, that I am willing to share. Klein I am not as sure about, so far beneath is brash attitude he seems a bit naïve and idealistic. Maybe I should not have told him about the map locator. I wouldn't put it past him with what little I know to show up with his whole team.

Its late, today was less stressful than yesterday but I still need the rest. In a few days I will certainly be able to start grinding longer and into the night hours. As much as I want to rush it, there is only so many levels I can get on this floor and I feel like its going to take far longer to clear even one boss than it ever did in the beta. I lay down in my armor and cloak, with all of this leather and fur I won't even need a blanket, better to use the bedroll as additional padding. I close my eyes and drift off to fitful sleep full of nightmares about dying and killing.

 _Next time on a Darker Shade of Black_

 _Kirito spends his month in exile grinding and leveling his skills. He gets two unexpected visitors, both unwelcome, but one is at least pleasant, the other decidedly not so much. Quests will be undertaken, and a mysterious wandering merchant comes through the forest, willing to trade with an Orange player._

 _Revision 001-02042019_


End file.
